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Michael Dransfield
Michael John Pender Dransfield (12 September 1948 - 20 April 1973) was an Australian poet active in the 1960s and early 1970s."Dransfield, Michael John Pender (1948–1973), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, ADB.ANU.edu.au, Web, Mar. 4, 2012. He has been described as "one of the most widely read poets of his generation." Voyages - The Poetry of Michael Dransfield Poetica. Producer/director Justine Lees. ABC National Radio. 15 April 2000. Life Youth Dransfield was born in Sydney, and educated at Sydney Grammar School.Australian Poets and Their Works, by William Wilde, Oxford University Press, 1996 He briefly studied English literature and language at the University of New South Wales and Sydney University before dropping out. He worked for some months as a clerk at the Australian Taxation Office before drifting into the counter-culture. From then on he worked intermittently, living mainly in Paddington, Balmain,Voyages - The Poetry of Michael Dransfield Poetica. Producer/director Justine Lees. ABC National Radio. 15 April 2000. and Darlinghurst in Sydney, and in the north coast town of Casino, and he travelled frequently between Tasmania and Queensland, visiting his large group of friends and fellow poets. Poetry career Dransfield wrote his first poem at the age of eight and began to write regularly at 14. He was a prolific poet, writing lyrical poems, which as his career progressed came to focus more and more on drug experiences. His poetry was first published in the mid-1960s. Dransfield's poems were published in Meanjin, Southerly, Poetry Australia and Poetry magazine. His first published collection was Streets of the Long Voyage. He published two more books, including Drug Poems (Sun Books, 1972). Between 1967 and 1969, Dransfield corresponded and exchanged poems with Peter Kocan, who had been imprisoned for attempting to assassinate federal opposition leader Arthur Calwell, and who was then a patient at the Morisset Mental Hospital. The letters comprise drafts of poems by Dransfield, quotes of poems by other poets, and recommendations for books Kocan should read. Death In his early 20s Dransfield was plagued by ill health. He died at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Sydney, aged 24, leaving behind close to a thousand poems. Sources report conflicting causes of death, including that he died of a heroin overdose,Louis Armand: "Still Life With Hypodermic: Michael Dransfield And The Poetry Of Addiction" infection related to drug useThe Oxford companion to twentieth-century poetry in English By Ian Hamilton. p. 135 and a report that the coroner's finding on the cause of death was "acute broncho-pneumonia and brain damage".Patricia Dobrez Michael Dransfield's Lives : A Sixties Biography. Writing Dransfield's poems address "people marginalized by society" Voyages - The Poetry of Michael Dransfield Poetica. Producer/director Justine Lees. ABC National Radio. 15 April 2000. "the relationship of the creative self to the outside world"Michael Dransfield: a retrospective By Michael Dransfield, John Kinsella. p. xvii "personal identity, the family, the relationship between human beings and the natural world, poetry itself, and states of mind"Essential skills poetry workbook years 9-10 By Derek Lewis. p. 66 Recognition Rodney Hall, who as poetry editor of The Australian newspaper had been among the first to publish Dransfield's poetry, edited and posthumously published several collections of Dransfield's poetry during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Collected Poems (University of Queensland Press, 1987). In 2011 a poet character called "Michael" (evidently based on Dransfield) was featured in the second part of the ABC telemovie Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo. Publications Poetry *''Streets of the Long Voyage''. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1970. *''The Inspector of Tides''. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1972. *''Drug Poems''. Melbourne: Sun Books, 1972. ;Posthumous *''Memoirs of a Velvet Urinal''. Adelaide: Maximus Books, 1975. *''Voyage into Solitude'' (edited by Rodney Hall). St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1978.Voyage into solitude / by Michael Dransfield; collected and edited by Rodney Hall, Trove, National Library of Australia, Web, Mar. 4, 2012. *''The Second Month of Spring'' (edited by Rodney Hall). St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1980. *''Michael Dransfield: Collected poems'' (edited by Rodney Hall). St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1987. *''Michael Dransfield: A retrospective'' (selected by John KInsella). St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 2002. Letters * "Letters to Nigel Roberts," Aspect: Art and literature 2.2 (1976), pp. 12–14. Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy the Australian Poetry Library.Michael Dransfield (1948-1973), Australian Poetry Library, Web, Mar. 4, 2012. See also * List of Australian poets References External links ;Poems *Michael Dransfield at PoemHunter (1 poem, "Epiderm") * Michael Dransfield (1948-1973) in the Australian Poetry Library (398 poems). ;Audio / video *Michael Dransfield at YouTube ;About * Dransfield, Michael John Pender (1948–1973) in the Australian Dictionary of Biography * Louis Armand: "Still Life with Hypodermic: Michael Dransfield and the poetry of addiction" *''Michael Dransfield: Collected poems'' reviewed by John Tranter ;Etc. * Papers of Michael Dransfield, UNSW Academy Library Category:1948 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Australian poets Category:People educated at Sydney Grammar School Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets Category:Drug-related deaths